Overload by Linda Howard

Narrated by Lesa Lockford

At just under three hours, Overload is perfect for a quick vintage Linda Howard fix. But if you’re looking for anything with a plot, then pass this one by. There is little character development, and the plot is as follows: Tom and Elizabeth used to date. She broke it off because he was domineering and Elizabeth has past issues with controlling men – but she doesn’t tell him that. When they get stuck in the office building where they both work during a blackout (pre-cell phone days), the predictable happens.

Lesa Lockwood is a new-to-me narrator, who seems to have only a few books to her credit at this point. I like her voice, which is clear and crisp. She speaks distinctly and she reads at an even pace, not too slowly or quickly. The inflection and emotions in the characters voices are generally well done, although she understandably handles the females a little better than the male.

Given that I think Lesa had very little real material to work with, I was very pleased with her overall performance. I do have one fairly minor criticism. While she did change up her performance, adding emotion into the conversations, I never quite shook the feeling I was listening to a good reader “read”, instead of losing myself in the story. Part of that is the dubious quality of the story, I know, but part of it wasn’t. However, this is a quibble and I wouldn’t hesitate to listen to another book with Lesa as narrator.

Overload is old-school Linda Howard, with overbearing macho men and semi-helpless females. I’m happy Howard switched it up in her novels and gave many of her heroines some backbone. As for Overload, all I came away with was the feeling of… “Really?” Unless you get this very inexpensively, I’d try to find this in print if you’re interested in reading it. It’s not worth spending $24.95 or 1 credit at Audible, in my opinion.

Carrie

Narration:  B+

Book Content:  C

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Domestic Violence

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Publisher:  Dreamscape Media

Overload was provided to AudioGals by Dreamscape Media for review.